[ex]

If i knew that my head would be torn off and eaten i would have started a new thread.(!!!!!!!!)

Can somone just go over some basics to help me please? It's appreciated, thanks.

------------------
-- Sean FitzGerald (ex)

[sacrelicious]

Hey ex, I know jack about gouache, but I just wanted to say, don't let dickshits like penis-wrinkle make you feel bad. He's just a sorry asshole with some obvious personality issues. Hope you get some good help from the forum masters!

[ex]

Thanks for the self-esteem boost.
Welcome to the forum, your a monthish new anyway. Hope you find what your looking for here; it's been inhabited by morons lately.

[micke]

Hi Ex!
I suggest you start trying out the paint in order to get a impression of it first.What you can do and what not..There is a lot of ways to paint with Gouache, i do it the way that works best with me and i pretty much try out new stuff everytime i paint(i have'nt done it for ages, though)
Have fun with it first, that's my advice.
I think Craig and Fred can give you more useful info.
-Mikael

[ex]

How 'bout a lil outline?

Please, note, I have never used paint in my life except for Tempra. My mom is an interior decorator and she does stencils and stuff so there is an unbelievably large supply of acrylics at my house. So besides that, no other experience.

I know this is waterbased, and when i stuck my finger in it ( ) it was really squishy and slashed out some water. Sooo, should i put this on a pallet? Do I mix them with water? Should I put something over it when I'm done? Can I mix these? Do I drain the excess water from the bottle? Do I apply alot? Or a little? wow... thanks [I love you!!!!]

[This message has been edited by ex (edited November 13, 2000).]

[ex]

Must I beg upon my knees? * Cause I will *

[ceenda]

Hi ex.

I tend to use gouache for doing comic style illustrations. You can just sketch out the basic picture use some slightly watered down gauche to set the colours in. Try doing colour gradients with gouache. I'm no expert but if you're wanting to do stuff with thick layers of paint then I recommend investigating acryllics.

BTW - I know what you mean about the forum.

[Thorn]

*comforts ex*

Sheesh, just read the thread you're talking about ex. Maybe dredging up on old thread isn't the best approach to a topic, but the reaction that followed was totally over the top. Particularly from someone who's only posted 6 times.

Anyway...who cares what P-O-W thinks. Someone who uses a log-in name like that should be banished. I think it's offensive and lowers the tone of the forum.

But thats not what I want I to go on about. I've been experimenting a lot with gouache in the last year, ex. I'm no expert, but one of the approaches I've played with (and found very rewarding) is combining gouache with colour pencils. The approach I particularly like is> delicate pencil drawing on hot-pressed w/c paper + washes of watercolour or goauche + delicate crosshatching over the top with colour pencils. Aquarells work nicely, too. Keep you pencil points really sharp. Its a very simple technique, but you can really pump your colour and the crispness of your piece.

Where the idea came from is through studying the ideas and work of different children's books illustrators. Some of the stuff out there is truly remarkable and innovative.

Anyway, hope that helps a bit. Its just one approach to a broad medium, but its a goody.

PS. You don't have to be tight with this approach, either. You can make it real loose and spontaneous. Partic. if you use watercolour pencils. Pastels as well. Gives you a lot of room to work back into the painting. Then just spray the whole thing with a good fixative-same as for drawings.

Hope I'm not waffling on.

[TENMAN]

the technique that Thorn is talking about is one made popular by Drew Struzan who,amongst other things, painted almost all the Lucas Film movie posters. He used acrylics, but you can use gouache also. He has a tutorial on his CD that you can purchase on his site www.drewstruzan.com
Another way that you can work in gouache is to lay down an initial wash, then paint in tiles of opaque paint to roll form. And then, this is the beauty of this medium, you can reactivate the paint with a damp brush to soften tiles, and get a more finished look to your painting. This is a difficult technique at first, but with lots of practice it becomes very intuitive(or so I'm told). Tomorrow I'll post a study I did using this technique.

[This message has been edited by TENMAN (edited November 14, 2000).]

[Thorn]

Oh, cool link, Tenman. I'm always on the prowl for any tutorial material on use of guoache and watercolours. *smooches tenman* Always good to find something that does a thorough investigation of a technique.

Nipped in for another comment.

I'd love to see your study, Tenman. You've got me intriqued.

[This message has been edited by Thorn (edited November 14, 2000).]

[Fred Flick Stone]

ex-I don't have much time here so let me see what I can drum up in just a few minutes...

There are many different approaches actually. There is the direct approach, which most of my gouache posts are. WHat this means is that I am going for exact color and value first time through and putting it down accordingly. No transparency, only solid color. This is a similar approach to oil painting, much like Richard Schmid speaks of. THis type of technique requires you to have a lot of confidence in your ability to see and put things down accurately on paper.
Another approach is the wash technique, where in you lay out the entire painting in watered down hues of the paint, it is very transparent at this point. Then you start a progressive build up with it, letting each wash layer thoroughly dry before adding the next layer.
There is also a wash and opaque technique, which combines the top two techniques together to emphasize depth, and helps separate subject matter in a complex image. THis again is fairly advanced in its approach and requires some fudging around with the paints before you really get what you are looking for.

Another approach is the Struzan technique. Only with Drew's technique, it isn't cross hatching with the color pencils. You are actually using line to direct the eye around the canvas. So the lines in prisma pencil need to be simple, and once. No fudging with them or that point where you are fussing with the lines will become a bad focal point in the image.

Another technique is similar to tempera painting where in you get a round brush, and flatten it so the bristles are in a line, or look like a flat brush. Then with color on the bristles, you feather color down onto the canvas, the feathered edges help blend one color/value with the next put down, and so on. Look at Robert Mcginnis. All his commercial illustrations were done this way, you need the book to actually see the brushwork though.

Another technique is the pickout technique-similar to oils. YOu first start with washing your canvas with the brightest values of each color you intend to use. Then, start scrubbing in a more opaque paint of a darker, deeper value, so if I had stark yellow as my wash, the next color I would scrub down would have orange or red in the yellow as a mixture. Then, progressively continue to lay down values of the yellowish color, deepening them as you move to shadows, or deeper nooks in the image you are painting. Then, take some q-tips, and with water or rubbing alchohol, rub back up the opaue paint that is too dark to be in the highlighted areas. This is a really tough technique to explain without visuals. But if you want examples of this type of technique, look up Bernie Fuchs, Thomas Blacksheare, Bob Peak, just to name a few of the guys who work really well in this type of painting style.

There are more ways to paint with gouache, but I don't have time to name off all of them. I really have toget going now. BUt I hope this has helped you a bit. Next time I hope to have some samples to go with the words to better educate. I apologize if I have none to use at this time.

I can't wait to see what you have conjured up with these paints. They aren't too friendly according to Spooge, but I find them not so tough. I actually like goauche as one of my favorite mediums. They are very flexible and can always be reworked when you feel you need to rework them.

Have fun with them and good luck also.

[Thorn]

That's a lovely overview, Mr. Fred. I really like the sound of the 'picked-out' technique. Going to have to dig around and look for some of the artists you mentioned. Mmmm. Got me thinking...

[TENMAN]

Here is that study I promised.

[Thorn]

Oh, I see what you mean Tenman. The picture helps a lot. Thanks for that.

I like you're study, too. Particularly how you approached the legs. Lively technique. Nice.

[Thorn]

Whoops.

[This message has been edited by Thorn (edited November 15, 2000).]

[Thorn]

This is one of my experiments, ex. Its not a particularly good one, but its the only one I have uploaded at the moment. It does show a little of what I mean, though. I was playing around, just giving the piece a bit of grainy look with colour pencils and keeping the colours to a minimum. Hope that helps a bit.




(Funny, I always seem to draw cats when I'm experimenting...is that Freudian, I wonder...)

PS. Just ignore the content. I tailored the piece for jabberwocky over in random musing. She was in need of a warm fuzzy. And, yes, I know the shadow's missing under the cat. Noticed it after I uploaded. *blush*

[ex]

Whoa, a kitty

Looks nice, and yeah, it does help; thanks

[ex]

wow, that's alot better.
Sorry for my lack to respond.

ceenda: Thanks, we are going to try them in art class in december. Can't wait.

Thorn: Cool, I'm going to try that next time i have some inspiration.

TENMAN: Nice picture!! The only thing I dislike about it is the grass. Lack of detail? I don't know, I'm not an art critic and I better stop trying to be one too.

Fred: I love you! And yes, that does all help. Thanks so much. When I was messin' around with the paint past night I did the opisite of what you suggested. I started with dark and then added light. Bad?

I'll be experimenting and giving up my latest for ctitique. And i'm hpoing to hear from all of you again too!